Computer crashing... How do I figure out the cause?

musicinmouth

Hi,

My computer crashed last week. I got the blue screen telling me that me that memory was being dumped. It gave me STOP error number but I didn't get time to write it down. When it rebooted I just got a black screen giving me 2 options. One was to try booting again. The second was to go to Setup. In setup, it had Unknown Device next to the hard disk drive sections.

I tried my computer again the next day and it worked ok for many hours, until the same thing happened again.

The next day it was working again so I ran some diagnostics on my hard disk drive. I have a Western Digital Caviar WD2500JB hard disk drive that I bought 13 months ago, following a similar problem. I ran the Western Digital Diagnostic tools in Windows and it passed all the tests ok.

A few hours later it crashed again. I took out the memory, dusted it down, then put it back in. My computer worked ok again. So I ran some diagnostics on the memory using the memtest86 program. It passed those tests as well.

The next day I had the problem again. After a few hours it seemed to start working again...

So I'm not sure what the problem is. Do the diagnostic tests I ran confirm that there is not a problem with my hard disk / memory? Or could it still be one of those? Is there anything else I can do to figure out what might be causing the problem?

Thanks for your advice, I really appreciate it.

Saruman

What are you doing when this happens? Anything at all? Or are you playing games or music or what?

anyway.. check your event logs at the time it has crashed for errors.
When a screen dump happens, it gets put into a minidump (or full dump) file. You need special software to read the info... it can help track down the cause (google it).

But event logs are the easiest way, if you are not sure where to go.. right click my computer and click manage. You will see event viewer in there. Its likely to be in system as opposed to application.

esskay

Realistically, you need to know what the stop error number is. This will give you a great indicator as to a possible source of your problem. To do this you need to stop your PC rebooting as soon as it gets a stop error.

Right click->My Copmputer
Click->Advanced
Under "Startup & Recovery", click->Settings.
Under "System Failure" untick "Automatically restart"

Now you will have to manually restart if a stop error occurrs, but you should be able to get the stop error number and check it out on the Microsoft site.

Best of luck,

EssKay

musicinmouth

Thanks a million. I was just browsing online, on BBC News. I might have had some music playing. Another time it happened when I was backing up all my files, after about 5 or 6 hours of backing up the files.

Here are a couple of errors that I found in the system log

---
"Error code 0000007a, parameter1 c03e66b0, parameter2 c000000e, parameter3 f99ac130, parameter4 03b7d860."
---

I'm not sure if this next one lines up exactly with when a crash happened.

---
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\D.
---

Does that error code indicate a cause? I've googled it a bit but it's a bit confusing!

Thanks again

Sherifu

The first thing I would do is rule out the ram. Google memtest, burn to cd and run the tests for a while.

musicinmouth

Thanks. I ran the memtest86 programme for 6 or 7 hours. It said it passed the tests, but it looked like it was on test 9 or something when I decided to end it.

Sherifu

Sorry, missed that in your original post, memory should be fine then.

musicinmouth

Some further information...

I have a Dell Dimension 4300 computer running Windows XP. I haven't added any new hardware or installed new software recently.

Sherifu

I know you've tried the maxtor tests but did you try a chkdsk in windows?

musicinmouth

Yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that. I did run check disk too and that seemed to be ok as well.

Saruman

Hmm.. i remember something about a Dell model from around that time that had a similar error with the hard disk controller.. It was just a driver problem.. may not be the cause but i suggest you get on to Dells website and download the latest chipset and hard drive controller (if any) drivers for your model PC. It will not do any harm anyway.

musicinmouth

Thanks again. I just downloaded the driver for the chipset from Dell's site, but it wouldn't install because it said that my operating system (XP) already has everything needed... I don't see a driver for the controller on the Dell site.

Saruman

Yeah like i said, it was probably not the cause..

steps_3314

Try ruling out the Hardware components in your pc as likely suspects. What i mean exactly is try booting with a different disk which has xp installed. Or try using your disk in a similar working machine.

If you have two slots of RAM try removing one of them and try using the pc again. Then remove the other one slot and insert original. One of the slots may be faulty.

Maybe a PKI component is causing the issue (graphics card, NIC) Test them in another machine.

May also be a motherboard issue.

In the end i'd rebuild after backing up vital data.

musicinmouth

Thanks everyone. I bought some new RAM and it seemed to work ok for the past few weeks... until today... It started to complain about being low on virtual memory... then it crashed... this time I was able to get the blue screen information, which I am going to try to include here as an image:



In case that image doesn't show, it says: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

and gives the following STOP error:

STOP: 0x0000007a 0xc03E12B0, 0xC000000E, 0xF84Ac384, 0x1a12D860

I am afraid to buy a new component in case that doesn't fix the problem. I don't know if it's the hard disk failing or the motherboard or something else... Is there any way to know for sure? Or should I bring it to a computer repair shop? Or do I have to buy a new PC?

Thanks, I really appreciate your advice.

Spear

musicinmouth wrote: »

Thanks everyone. I bought some new RAM and it seemed to work ok for the past few weeks... until today... It started to complain about being low on virtual memory... then it crashed... this time I was able to get the blue screen information, which I am going to try to include here as an image:

In case that image doesn't show, it says: KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR

and gives the following STOP error:

STOP: 0x0000007a 0xc03E12B0, 0xC000000E, 0xF84Ac384, 0x1a12D860

I am afraid to buy a new component in case that doesn't fix the problem. I don't know if it's the hard disk failing or the motherboard or something else... Is there any way to know for sure? Or should I bring it to a computer repair shop? Or do I have to buy a new PC?

Thanks, I really appreciate your advice.

It does make reference to atapi.sys which most commonly used for CD/DVD devices. Though this could also point to the drive controller on the motherboard.

musicinmouth

Spear wrote: »

It does make reference to atapi.sys which most commonly used for CD/DVD devices. Though this could also point to the drive controller on the motherboard.

I tried booting without the CD or DVD drive connected, but I got the same error. I unplugged each component and then plugged hem back in snugly. I still get the same error.

I then tried a hard disk from an identical PC in my computer and that didn't work. I tried my hard disk in that other PC and that worked ok. So I know the problem is not with the hard disk.

I don't know anything about hard disk controllers or motherboards... Is the hard disk controller a separate component? How do I find out which is at fault?

Thanks again

Spear

musicinmouth wrote: »

I tried booting without the CD or DVD drive connected, but I got the same error. I unplugged each component and then plugged hem back in snugly. I still get the same error.

I then tried a hard disk from an identical PC in my computer and that didn't work. I tried my hard disk in that other PC and that worked ok. So I know the problem is not with the hard disk.

I don't know anything about hard disk controllers or motherboards... Is the hard disk controller a separate component? How do I find out which is at fault?

Thanks again

The hard disk controller is part of the southbridge/media controller section of the motherboard chipset. It's not replacable on it's own.

musicinmouth

Thank you for your replies. I've read through those articles and a lot more. I'm told it's very difficult to get a compatible motherboard that fits into a dell desktop, and that dell would charge a lot for it... so if it's a motherboard / controller issue then I have to get a new computer I think.

Blowfish

Semi-random question, but is there any Sonic software on there (MyDVD etc.)? I remember a while back there was an issue where Dells were randomly fubarring, and it was related to the driver Sonic installs along with the software.

musicinmouth

No, I don't have any Sonic software installed.

I don't suppose anybody can recommend a computer repair shop in Cork City that I could bring my computer to?

Thanks again.

musicinmouth

I finally got my PC working again. Somebody at the dellcommunity forums recommended replacing the battery on the motherboard. I just took out my battery and stuck it back in and it booted up perfectly, all working ok again. Hopefully that's all it was and I will buy a new battery for the motherboard now.